Arfon by-election, 1911

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The Arfon by-election, 1911 was a parliamentary by-election held on 11 February 1911 for the Arfon division of Caernarvonshire in North Wales, a constituency of the British House of Commons. It was the first by-election to be held after the December 1910 general election.

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections.

Arfon (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2010 onwards

Arfon is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Although the constituency is relatively large by geographical area, it is a predominantly urban rather than rural seat, with the majority of the population living in the two towns on which the constituency is based, Bangor and Caernarfon. "Arfon" is a historical name for the area, meaning "facing Anglesey"; it is also the name of the former district council. This seat was created by the Welsh Boundary Commission in time for the 2010 general election, and replaced the old seat of Caernarfon. Bangor was in the old seat of Conwy. The same boundaries were used for the Arfon Welsh Assembly constituency in the 2007 Welsh Assembly election.

North Wales unofficial region of Wales, United Kingdom

North Wales is a region of Wales. Retail, transport and educational infrastructure are centred on Wrexham, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno and Bangor. It is bordered to the rest of Wales with the counties of Ceredigion and Powys, and to the east by the English counties of Shropshire, Merseyside, and Cheshire.

The by-election was held because the sitting Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) William Jones had been appointed as a Junior Lord of the Treasury in H. H. Asquith's Liberal government, and until the 1920s MPs appointed to positions in government had to seek re-election. Jones had held the seat since the 1895 general election, and at the by-election he was re-elected unopposed. [1]

Liberal Party (UK) political party of the United Kingdom, 1859–1988

The Liberal Party was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom with the opposing Conservative Party in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American and French Revolutions in the 1850s. By the end of the 19th century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite being divided over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to government in 1905 and then won a landslide victory in the following year's general election.

H. H. Asquith former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith,, generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last prime minister to lead a majority Liberal government, and he played a central role in the design and passage of major liberal legislation and a reduction of the power of the House of Lords. In August 1914, Asquith took Great Britain and the British Empire into the First World War. In 1915, his government was vigorously attacked for a shortage of munitions and the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign. He formed a coalition government with other parties, but failed to satisfy critics. As a result, he was forced to resign in December 1916, and he never regained power.

Jones died in 1915, triggering another by-election

Arfon by-election, 1911 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal William Jones Unopposed
Registered electors
Liberal hold

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References

  1. ↑ "Carnavonshire (Arfon)". Dublin Daily Express. 13 February 1911 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  2. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

Frederick Walter Scott Craig was a Scottish psephologist and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations, compiling election results in his spare time which were published by the Scottish Unionist Party. In the late 1960s he launched his own business as a publisher of reference books, and also compiled various other statistics concerning British politics.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

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